Although the main source of grassland ethnic food is nomadism, the ultimate source of meat is actually pasture.
However, in the ancient era when food storage technology was underdeveloped, mountains were the ultimate home for the grassland peoples, because winter was the moment of life and death for them. At this time, only mountains could provide shelter for the survival of the grassland peoples.
When the Siberian cold current arrives, the grasslands are devastated. Only mountains can provide shelter from the cold for the grassland people and their livestock.
The output of nomads is not enough to feed them. Only the mountains can provide places for the grassland people to gather and hunt as a food supplement.
If the mountain conditions are good, and there is water and mountains, fishing and farming are also a major source of food. The grassland people are not people who rely on nomadic herding to survive. They grow food very crudely. In spring, they use wooden sticks to
Poke a small hole in the ground, throw in the seeds and stamp them firmly. In the autumn, the nomads come back, look at the harvest, and start harvesting. Harvest is as much as possible. You really depend on the sky for food.
Tieman fell silent. She was at least aware of the actual situation. What really allowed the grassland people to survive was gathering, fishing, hunting, and simple farming!
Even if farming provides very little food, it can still sustain the survival of the grassland peoples.
Because grain can be stored for more than ten years.
Why did the Huns move westward?
Could it be that the Han Dynasty's army occupied the entire desert grassland?
No, because the army of the Han Dynasty occupied Yanran Mountain, which is now Hangai Mountain. Although the desert grassland is large, Hangai Mountain is the last basis for survival. If they cannot fish, hunt and plant for a year, they will not be able to survive.
Why did new grassland peoples emerge in the desert steppe after the grassland peoples were defeated?
The reason is that mountains provide endless food resources.
They are the Hangai Mountains, the Altai Mountains, the Sayan Mountains, the Yin Mountains, the Greater Khingan Mountains, the Xing'an Mountains, and the Yin Mountains. The animal and plant resources provided by these mountains provide the final food supplement after the food obtained by the nomads is exhausted, allowing them to survive the most difficult times.
The harsh winter and the exhausting early spring. Therefore, the mountains are the roots of the grassland people.
Therefore, whether it is the northward attack of the Central Plains regime of the Han people, the climate devastation of the desert steppe, or military failure, it will cause a sharp decline in the population.
Or sudden changes in climate, white disasters, heavy rains, locust plagues, etc. destroy the nomadic economy and make it impossible to support more people. Then the grassland people will weaken overnight. There is a proverb among the Han people, which is that a family has a thousand bones, and the ones with hair are not counted. Because
A plague can wipe out all these properties.
Nomadic pastoralism is a very risky business, far more unstable than farming.
When grazing is possible, the desert grasslands are filled with sheep and horses.
But as soon as the Siberian cold wave comes, the grassland people and their livestock must immediately return to the winter camps in the mountains to escape the cold. There is not enough hay in the camps. They must kill some sheep and horses and eat them as soon as possible.
Because meat cannot be preserved for a long time, they must rely on gathering, fishing and hunting, and simple farming to obtain storable grains. The grassland people can survive the long winter. Every winter is a test of life and death. After that, they will live another year.
, if you can't get through, you will die, or even the entire tribe will disappear.
Once the cold current is too strong and too cold, even if the mountains are blocking the way and they cannot escape the cold, then the grassland peoples will have no choice but to go south.
This move south is the whole tribe's move south. It is a gamble for the last chance of survival.
The Han people have a term to describe this kind of southward movement, called Dacaogu.
Even now Mongolia has a very sparse population.
The vast majority of the population is concentrated near Hangai Mountain (Yanran Mountain commemorated by Wei Qingle in the Han Dynasty). This is a historical formation, and it is also a memory deeply embedded in the genes of the nation.
Because the nomads themselves have no sense of belonging to the grassland. This leads to a strange phenomenon. They may embark on a tribal expedition at any time. They leave without hesitation. This is the grassland people north of the Great Wall.
The root cause of constant turnover.
Historically, before the Ming Dynasty, the period when the grasslands were relatively stable was the Liao Kingdom.
The Liao State's method of managing grasslands was very effective. It was to mobilize soldiers.
A large number of soldiers and people were transferred to ensure the stability of the grassland. Because the old and weak could only die of cold and starvation, they could not resist the rule of the Liao Dynasty. These transferred soldiers also ensured that the Liao State had sufficient troops to deal with the Song Dynasty.
(Author's note: The Qing Dynasty's method was to reduce religion, let a large number of men become monks and become lamas, reduce the number of births, and control the population of the grasslands. With fewer people, the pressure is less, so they will not go south to harvest grass and valleys frequently.)
The grassland economy and grassland people are very fragile, but they are also very strong.
When faced with war, no matter what kind of war it is, the grassland peoples fight a national war.
It is a national war that mobilizes everyone to participate. Defeat means the destruction of the nation and the country.
The victor will behead all the men who are taller than a wheel and divide all the women. The women of the newly conquered tribe will be pregnant again and give birth to their children. The original children will be unable to resist and will become slaves when they grow up.
If you cannot win, you will migrate away; if you win, you will seize territory, women, and cattle and sheep. This is the survival model of the grassland people.
The emergence of new nomads is determined by the intensity of the nomadic economy.
If there is a period of good climate for a few years, the population of the grassland peoples after a sharp decline in population, or the small tribes living in the mountains, will expand rapidly under the influence of the nomadic economy once they enter the grassland.
This is the source of instability in the grassland!
The nomadic economy, gathering, fishing and hunting economy, and farming economy of the grassland peoples are very unbalanced.
Among them, the farming economy is very crude and weak, with almost no agriculture.
The gathering, fishing and hunting economy is very unstable.
As for the nomadic economy, with a vast grassland, as long as the conditions are slightly better and the climate is slightly more suitable, then this sparsely populated tribe can rapidly expand its population under the nourishment of the nomadic economy.
The intermittent vast grasslands in the area north of the Great Wall allowed the small tribes occupying a small piece of grassland to rapidly expand their population from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands within a few decades.
If we add in that they annexed and conquered other tribes and grabbed more women. One man was matched with several women. Then according to their grassland habits of having more children, the population would quickly increase to one million, and then the grassland would quickly become
's new owner.
Xiao Niangpi nodded. Liu Qianqian was worthy of being named one of the academy's top ten outstanding lecturers. Her courses were indeed very inspiring.
"Can Mr. Liu please introduce in detail the evolution of various tribes in northern China and beyond the Great Wall? So that we can have a clear understanding of the grassland world through the ages."